


Six Became Four

by ashleybenlove



Series: Ashley's OT6 [17]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Character Death, Emotional Hurt, Future Fic, Grief/Mourning, Multi, OT6, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 01:38:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14760128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashleybenlove/pseuds/ashleybenlove
Summary: And the six of them had been together, first as friends and teammates, and then as romantic partners, for some sixty years.And now they were four.





	Six Became Four

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PrimedOverlord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrimedOverlord/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Infernal Fascination](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7636351) by [evilwriter37](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37). 



> I originally posted this on my tumblr in December 2017 because I came up with [this thought about my OT6](http://ashleybenlove.tumblr.com/post/166572343191/ashleybenlove-primedoverlord) about Ruff and Tuff dying first of the OT6 and I had to post it because as I said, "if I have to suffer, so do all of you." And then PrimedOverlord added to my post with some great ideas about that: involving the twins dying in battle, but also finding each other before they died and dying in each other's arms. They also contributed the line: “I came into this world screaming in someone else’s blood, I plan to go out the same way.” As a result, I was inspired to write this and it exists because of them.
> 
> I included an inspired by "Infernal Fascination" by evilwriter37 because I felt like certain events in that fic (specifically about the death of a certain OC and Hiccup's reaction to that event) were inspirational (in terms of like, how to write something like this well, I suppose) and something I thought about as I wrote this one. 
> 
> This story takes place many years in the future, roughly 60 years after the first movie, set when the gang is in their mid-70s.

“We will handle the battle,” Revna said to her parents.

By ‘we’ she meant herself, six of her seven siblings, all of her siblings-in-law, and other Berkians. Her second-youngest sister, Oydis (who was currently pregnant), and her parents’ grandchildren— her niblings, were going to stay with her parents, even though there were niblings currently older than her parents were at the time they fought the Red Death some sixty years prior. She was certain the older niblings were a bit miffed at that, but they would listen to their Aunt and Chief. She was going to protect as much of her family as she could.

She saw some of her parents easily agree to that. Papa Fishlegs nodded quietly and doted on one of her young niblings. Daddy Snotlout, who she would have expected to disagree, actually nodded.

She looked at Chief Dad— who at this point hadn’t been Chief in more than twenty years, but that was what she always had called him, and that was unlikely to change when she was over fifty, and he nodded, with a little bit of a hesitance and concern, likely afraid that any of his— theirs— the sixsome’s children would perish in the battle. She understood that fear, even if she had no offspring herself.

“I agree. We’ll stay with the grandchildren. None of us will fight,” Hiccup said.

There was some resistance from her some of her parents at this comment. Her parents had been Dragon Riders for sixty years, she expected that— they were a stubborn group, to be sure. “We’re a pretty stubborn group” should have been the Haddock family motto.

“What?!” Mom Nut— Ruffnut exclaimed. “And let our kids die in battle?! Hel No! That’s not happening! We’re going!”

Dad Nut, Tuffnut agreed.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut stood up.

“I don’t like the thought either, Wife, Husband. But someone has to watch and protect the grandchildren,” Astrid said, tugging at Tuffnut’s tunic.

“We’re staying, Ruff, Tuff,” Hiccup said firmly, Chiefly.

That seemed to end the discussion, but Revna was concerned about the shared look between Mom Nut and Dad Nut as they sat back down. That twin connection was there. And she knew: it was a formidable connection.

 

 

 

After seven of their children went into battle, Ruff and Tuff excused themselves to one of the bedrooms. Maybe they would take a nap and sleep through it, not stay awake worried.

They sat down on the bed and looked at each other.

“We’re not staying,” Ruff and Tuff said at the same time, perfectly in unison.

The two of them pressed their foreheads together. They stayed like that for a long moment, and breathed together, as one.

When they finally pulled away, Ruffnut said, “I can’t just sit here and wait. There are nearly two dozen of the people we love most in the world in this house, including a set of twins in the womb. Seven of our children are out there, in a battle. I do not want to see them die. And I don’t want to see anybody in this house die. I don’t. Astrid’s guarding the front door and if it gets to the enemies at our door, I don’t want to see her die. Or--”

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I’m with you, sis,” Tuffnut said. “Also, Oydis is having twins? How do you know?”

“Hello? Twintuition. I gave birth to twins. I knew Astrid was having twins. Yeah, Oydis probably doesn’t realize she’s having twins, but she’s totally having twins,” Ruffnut said. “And I want her to have those babies.”

Tuff nodded.

“So, we’re going?” he asked.

“Duh! I came into this world screaming in someone else’s blood, I plan to go out the same way,” Ruffnut said.

Together the twins opened the window, called Barf and Belch, and flew off together, to protect Berk, and their large family.

 

 

 

Hiccup sat with one of his grandchildren in his arms, who was asleep against his chest, with Toothless right next to the two of them. Hiccup felt content, even if his heart ached just a bit because seven of his babies, including the parent of the grandchild in his arms, were off fighting a battle. He didn’t want to lose any of them. He was there when they were all born, and he would rather not be here when they died.

He watched as his second-youngest, Oydis, pensively wrung her hands.

Oydis got up and Hiccup heard Fishlegs tell her to rest, that she should have a snack, for her and her growing baby, that her obvious anxiety was not going to help matters, but that it was okay for her to feel those feelings. She nodded, saying she was going to go see if her Parent Nuts wanted to snack with her.

She came back even more anxious.

Oydis tapped Hiccup’s shoulder and he looked up at her.

Hiccup felt anxiety pool in his stomach as his second-youngest daughter looked at him with wide frightened eyes and whispered loudly, “Dad! They’re not there!”

“What did you say?” Snotlout asked, getting up from where he had been and walking over to them. The same thing happened with Fishlegs, as well as Astrid, who had moved from where she had been standing by the door with Asbiorg, aged twenty-two, Oydis’ eldest niece and her parents’ eldest grandchild, guarding it.

The eyes of four of her parents were looking at her.

“Parent Nuts are not in any of the other rooms! One of the bedroom windows is open and it doesn’t look like Barf and Belch are here, either.”

“Oh no,” Hiccup said.

He looked at three of his spouses and was met with the same expressions on their face, that he expected he too shared. Wide-eyed fear.

 

 

 

As Revna and her siblings fought both in the sky and on the ground, she caught sight of a Zippleback with two people on it, and realized… oh no.

“Rev!” Folkeseks exclaimed, as he flew beside her, being her wingman. “Is that Barf and Belch? And Parent Nuts?”

He tossed her his spyglass and she looked through it. Sure enough, that was two of their parents. Technically, Dad Nut was Uncle Nut to Folky and Spike and Knut, but no one in the family really cared about those distinctions.

She tampered down on the urge to growl.

 

 

 

Hiccup wanted to leave their home and go find two of their spouses, and while he was sure that he and Toothless could do this, he also knew that he had said they would stay, they would stay and protect the grandchildren. And his very pregnant daughter, who looked as nervous as he felt.

Plus, Snotlout had sat down next to him, took his hand and said, “Don’t you dare leave, either. For once in your life, don’t be reckless.”

Hiccup squeezed his husband’s hand and felt his chest hurt with tension and stress and fear. But he held Snotlout’s hand like a lifeline, like if they held onto each other, everything would be fine.

“Thor, bring them back safe,” Hiccup prayed softly. Bring back his seven children and his two spouses.

His heart ached even more.

 

 

 

The last thing Ruff and Tuff told Barf and Belch was for the dragon to fly off and leave them here. This was their fight. This was their battlefield. They were going to protect their home. Their family.

 

 

 

Ruff had been separated from her twin in the battle, and she hoped to find him again. She took a shallow breath, finding it hard to breathe deeper, and clutched her side. She felt pain. Her heart told her to keep going in the direction she was going.

She wanted to shout his name but could only muster a cracked whisper.

She eventually found him.

Too tired to keep walking, Ruff fell to the ground and dragged her injured and old body to her just as injured and old twin. She threw an arm around him, struggled to grab onto his available hand, and him helping her by moving it enough so they could hold hands. She felt his body move with shaky breath, relieved that he was still with her on Midgard. But she felt it in her body, and felt it with her Twintuition… they were not going to be on Midgard much longer. They were going to Valhalla together. Born together, live together, die together.

“Tuff,” she whispered. “I’m here.”

She felt him move an arm so that he was holding onto her as well.

“Same, sis,” he replied. “We got ‘em?”

“Yeah, we got ‘em.”

“That’s good,” Tuff responded softly.

“Meet you at the Table of Kings?” Ruff asked.

“See you there.”

 

 

 

Revna had last seen Barf and Belch (and her parents) fly off towards the ground battle. She later saw the dragon fly off without any riders. She was certain that they were somewhere on that battlefield.

Now, with the battle complete, her orders were clear to her siblings and siblings-in-law: Find Mom and Dad.

 

 

 

“Revna!” called Balder.

Revna turned at the voice of her brother, and he approached her. And as he approached her, she could see some tear tracks on his face. No.

She knew whatever he had to tell her was going to wreck her world.

 

 

 

“Best we can tell,” Balder explained, as he walked with Revna to the site. “One of them must have dragged themselves over to the other. This is how we found them.”

And there it was.

Two parts of her heart, of her siblings’ hearts, of her parents’ hearts, of her whole family’s heart were _gone_. Two people who she loved so much, who had raised her, had loved her, had made her life fun and joyous and whole, were gone.

She wanted it to not be true. She wanted it to be some kind of trick. That they’d pop up any moment and say “Loki’d!” in that infuriating way.

But, six of her siblings were here, and they all were weeping.

She dropped to her knees and reached forward to touch Mom Nut’s neck. To check. To make sure.

“I… already, uh, did that,” she heard Balder’s voice say thickly.

No pulse. No life. No warmth.

And the same thing happened when she touched Dad Nut’s neck.

She heard a dragon call that in her head instantly translated to Zippleback in distress. She looked up, her eyes blurry, and saw that Barf and Belch were with them. She had seen the dragon fly off without them (probably on their orders), and the dragon must have come back at some point. Barf and Belch let out two calls of distress.

It was one of the worst things she ever heard.

 

 

 

Revna was not certain how long they stayed in that spot, mourning over the loss of two amazing people from their lives, but she was not going to deny them (or her) right to mourn. She knew that they would have to pull themselves together for what she knew was going to be the worst part of this, and she wasn’t quite ready for that.

She took an unsteady breath, and some more tears fell.

“What do we do now?” Ylvasiri asked.

Revna took another breath, this time steadier, willing herself to be the strong Chief she was, and said, “We bring them home.”

While certainly, it would have been easier for them to send her parents to Valhalla here, on the battlefield, but she would be denying a large section of their family (and especially, her still-living parents) that. She knew in her heart that it would cause her mother and fathers more distress and she did not wish to do that.

So, they wrapped up Ruff and Tuff in a sheet, as carefully as they could, making sure they were together, and placed them on Barf and Belch’s back, who allowed Knut and Spike to ride them, and allowed one of Revna’s siblings-in-law onto their back as well.

Now they could head home.

 

 

 

When Revna and her contingent touched down at her parent’s house, Oydis and Asbiorg, immediately came out of the house, closing the door behind them.

“Did you find them?” Oydis asked.

Revna nodded to her sister. She turned to her niece and said, “I want you to get your siblings and cousins and go to your dad’s house. Okay?”

Asbiorg nodded quietly and did as she was told.

Revna quietly counted all of her niblings as they left. Sixteen. They were all there.

Oydis nervously wrung her hands as she watched the procession of her niblings, who were being escorted by a couple of her siblings-in-law.

When her parents’ grandchildren had all headed to her brother’s house, Oydis asked again, “Did you find Mom and Dad Nut? Are they…?”

She nervously wrung her hands.

She looked at her twin, Ragnhild, who clearly had tearstains on her face, mixed with dirt from the battle, and just… knew from looking at her.

She rushed over to her twin and embraced her, and they held each other for a long time while they cried. Oydis then hugged her husband.

Revna let her sister mourn her parents just like she had let her siblings mourn them earlier. But, she knew what was left of her parents were anxiously awaiting news about their spouses.

“Oydis,” Revna said. She gently grabbed her sister by the shoulders, and looked her straight in the eye.

“I need you to put yourself together for a bit, because in a minute we have to go tell our parents what happened,” Revna said. She wiped away a tear from her sister’s face. Revna’s voice cracked, “And we have to be there for them.”

Revna sucked in a breath, willing herself to be strong.

Revna took Oydis’ hand and squeezed it.

Oydis nodded.

 

 

 

Fishlegs, Astrid, Hiccup, and Snotlout sat together on a bench, anxiously waiting for their children to come inside with Ruff and Tuff, and they could— maybe not _scold_ but gently chide them, and then envelope them in their arms.

The door finally opened, and one by one, their eight children walked in, solemnly, quietly, with Revna being the last one in.

“Eight,” Astrid whispered, in a relieved voice.

But the fact that Revna was the last one in, and it was just them, no Ruffnut and Tuffnut, killed the relief with an axe.

They all felt a painful sense of dread in their stomach and an ache in their heart.

Hiccup was almost afraid to speak. None of them wanted to ask the question.

Their children all slowly approached them, Revna in the middle, and finally, when they were a few feet from them, Hiccup found his voice enough to ask, "Where's Ruff and Tuff, Revna?"  
  
Revna looked at the four parents she had left and saw that they were holding each other's hands. It was an action she had seen so many times in her life. Whether a six-person handhold or a smaller-numbered person handhold. She had seen it at the birth of Oydis and Ragnhild, and pretty much every day of her life. It was such a beautiful thing to see. It gave her great comfort because it essentially meant her world was whole.

But it wasn’t now.

Revna sat down in front of her parents and destroyed their world.

 

 

 

She had never heard her mother sob like that— or any of her parents, in her entire five decades of life. She had certainly seen them cry, of course, before, but nothing like this. There had been talk how _they_ had cried more on the day she was born than she, a newborn, had. And she believed it. She had seen them cry full of joy, because of new life. Watching them cry the day Oydis and Ragnhild were born had been an incredible experience. And they had been so happy and weepy when each of their grandchildren had been born.

This crying was not like that.

This crying was full of despair.

Like, everything had been taken from them. And it might as well have been.

It was awful. This had to be worse than actually finding the bodies of two of her parents.

All she and her siblings could do was converge on their parents and hold them close and try to comfort them even though in her broken heart she knew that it was essentially futile.

 

 

 

“Did you find them separately? Did they die alone?” Hiccup asked, hoarsely, once he was able to speak. He said it fearfully, like he was dreading her response. Like, if she said the wrong thing it would shatter them completely. She even saw his lips quiver.

She looked at Astrid, Fishlegs, and Snotlout and saw their lips quiver as well.

“No. They were together. We found them together,” Revna said. “They were together in each other’s arms.”

That elicited another sob from her parents.

But also, a soft “Thank Thor” from all four of them.

She knew what their fear must have been. That Ruffnut and Tuffnut had died alone and in pain, with no one with them, when they left for Valhalla. They had been together their entire lives, since the womb, and to not be together in death would have been an awful way to go.

But they had been together. They had found them together. They had not been separated by death. They were together, even on their journey to Valhalla.

But they were no longer with her parents.

And the six of them had been together, first as friends and teammates, and then as romantic partners, for some sixty years.

And now they were four. They were incomplete.

Together, the six of them had created this amazing life together that had included dragons and the births of two dozen people (and counting), because the six of them had looked at each other more than fifty years ago and had decided they wanted to be together. And they had been so happy. Two dozen people literally existed because of them.

And now two of the six were just _gone_.

 

 

 

“Did you,” Fishlegs began. He sniffed. More tears fell from his eyes. “Did you already give them their funeral rites?”

“We brought them home. So, we could do it here,” Revna said. “So, the whole family could say goodbye.”

The four of them just nodded quietly.

Snotlout covered his eyes with one of his hands.

“I’m thinking we’ll do that tomorrow, is that okay?” Revna asked.

Another set of four nods.

“Where are they now?” Astrid asked softly.

“Barf and Belch are watching over them,” Revna said, gently. “Would you like me to bring Mom Nut and Dad Nut into the house? Until the funeral?”

Another set of four nods.

 

 

 

“I don’t want to do this,” Snotlout said. “I can’t.”

The four of them were sitting in one of their bedrooms. Their children and children-in-law were going to lay Ruffnut and Tuffnut in one of the other bedrooms and then their children would see to the grandchildren. Revna had made it clear she was going to stay in the house with them. Spikenut, who had no children, had decided to do the same. The four had decided to go into a bedroom so they wouldn’t have to watch and because they were exhausted.

“It’s for closure. So, we can say goodbye,” Astrid said gently.

“I don’t need to see their lifeless corpses,” Snotlout said. Some more tears fell from his eyes. It was fairly easy for the tears to fall.

“I’d rather remember them how they were in life,” Fishlegs whispered.

“Yeah, same,” Snotlout said.

“I thought we’d have more time,” Hiccup said. He could feel their eyes on him, but he was looking down so he had no proof that they were looking at them. “That it wouldn’t just… happen. Not like this. You know?”

He looked up and saw three faces filled with sadness that he knew mirrored his own.

“We made to our seventies! I just figured at this point in our lives, we would have just died of old age, or illness, where we’d get a chance to say goodbye to their still living person. And not be robbed of that. And not lose _two_ of us to death in battle.” He sighed and some more tears fell.

“They died to protect the family, and us,” Astrid said. “In my book, that’s a good way to go.”

She watched them as they quietly nodded or wiped tears from their face, or did both.

“It still hurts, though,” Astrid added, softly, looking down and shedding more tears.

For a while there were no other sounds in the room aside from their quiet crying.

And then there was a gentle knock.

“Mom? Dads?” Revna said, voice muffled, just a tad. “If you wanna go see them, they’re in their bedroom.”

Astrid gave a great sigh.

She looked at the other three.

All three of them wore looks on their faces that clearly said that they did not want to do this. They did not want to see the bodies of two people they had all loved for the vast majority of their lives. She understood that feeling. She didn’t want to do it either.

But they had to.

For a moment, her voice got dangerous, “Seven of our _children_ , three of whom were in Ruffnut’s womb, found them on the battlefield.” And then her voice broke, “Our wonderful babies. Found two of their parents dead.”

Hiccup’s heart ached. He knew how that felt. And in his heart, he knew that his father was welcoming Ruffnut and Tuffnut to Valhalla with open arms.

“I just. I think about that, and I have to see them. They had to do it, now so do I,” Astrid said. She nodded resolutely.

“But you have to come with me,” Astrid said. “Please. As one. It’d be the last…” Astrid let out a breath and sobbed and the other three felt the tears fall from their own eyes. “Time we’ll all be together in one room.”

Their amazing team of six was gone now. It was gone.

Snotlout covered his eyes with his hands and his whole body shook.

“Okay, I’ll come with you,” Fishlegs said.

Hiccup took a breath. His heart ached fiercely and he willed himself to be strong. “Okay,” Hiccup said. “I’m coming with you, as well.”

A moment passed and they let Snotlout cry quietly.

“Honey?” Fishlegs asked, gently.

Snotlout gave a sigh from behind his hands and said, “Okay. I’ll do it.”

 

 

 

They took hold of each other’s hands, because otherwise none of them felt like they could have done it. They were a team. Always. They were there for each other. Forever. As one.

Astrid opened the bedroom door and emerged first. Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Snotlout followed after her.

“Parents?” Spikenut asked, softly.

Revna immediately was nearby them, “Do you want me to go with you?” she asked gently. She went to take her mother’s hand.

“No, baby,” Astrid said. “Your fathers and I are going alone.”

Revna nodded.

“Spike and I will be in the front room, okay?” Revna said quietly. Her hands hovered gently over their shoulders, not quite touching them. Like she was afraid that if she spoke too loud or touched them too hard they would fall apart.

While Hiccup certainly appreciated that their daughter was being so gentle with them, and was sure Fishlegs felt the same way, he had the feeling Astrid was bristling at it. Maybe Snotlout too.

And truth be told, Hiccup felt like he might fall apart at any moment.

The four of them slowly walked to the bedroom in question.

At the door, Astrid took a deep breath, and they followed with their own deep breaths. They took another deep breath, this time as one, and then Astrid took hold of the door handle and opened it. She stood by the door as the other three walked into the room, their hands just brushing her own, and then she followed them in and shut the door.

They all stared silently at the shroud that had two people they had loved so dearly and ardently for many decades wrapped within it.

It was like they had all fallen off a dragon. None of them could find it in them to breathe. Or make any sort of sound.

Finally, Astrid took a very deep breath, bringing breath in her lungs, almost as to remind herself and her three husbands, that they were all still alive, even if part of their hearts had died.

She looked at all of them and nodded.

She approached the shroud slowly and her hands shook as they moved to touch the part of the sheet where their heads were.

“No,” Fishlegs said.

Astrid looked at him.

“Together,” Fishlegs said.

“Together,” Snotlout and Hiccup repeated.

So, together, as they did all things, four sets of hands took hold of the shroud and pulled down.

And there it was.

Proof.

That two members of a team that had held together for sixty years… were gone.

Hiccup’s sharp gasp was like a knife into each of their beating hearts.

Fishlegs’ whimper was most definitely a second knife into their hearts.

Snotlout’s sob was like a third knife into their hearts.

Astrid’s quiet and broken “Ruff. Tuff,” was the fourth knife that finished the job.

They stared at the cold dead faces of two people they loved, and their hearts shattered.

“Assholes, why’d you have to go and do that?” Snotlout said thickly.

“Snotlout!” Fishlegs and Hiccup both said.

“I think what Snotlout means, Ruff and Tuff,” Astrid said, looking down at their corpses, “Thank you for protecting the family, and we’ll always love you.”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean,” Snotlout said, pressing himself close to Astrid and laying his head against her shoulder. He sniffed.

“I love you, Ruff. I love you, Tuff,” Hiccup said, his eyes filling with tears. “You made our lives bright and ridiculous and fun a-and amazing, and we miss you so much already. Say hi to my dad and Gobber.”

Fishlegs let out a sob. All he could manage was an “I love you” directed to Ruff and Tuff.

“Save us a couple of seats at the Table of Kings, huh?” Hiccup said.

 

 

 

Revna watched as her four parents walked out of the bedroom.

And they looked even worse.

Yeah, she figured; she was not sure she’d ever quite recover from seeing two of her parents’ corpses.

She regretted letting them go in alone or letting them go in at all. It accomplished nothing except causing them more distress.

“Parents, do you need anything?” Revna asked.

She knew in her heart that that what they needed, she could not give, though she wished she could.

Gods, the way they looked at her and shook their head. Looking at her like they were one second away from just crying more.

She watched as they headed silently into one of the bedrooms together. At least they didn’t go into separate bedrooms alone. She didn’t want them to be alone. At least they were together. In all things. Even their grief.

Her heart ached.

And she went to sit next to her little sister, Spike, to try to comfort her.

 

 

 

The four of them entered one of their bedrooms. In a way, by closing the twins’ door was symbolic of closing the door on the life they had with six. It was gone. It was over. Closing the door to the bedroom they were currently in was further confirmation that the life they had all shared was over.

Nothing was left but pain.

“I should have gone after them,” Hiccup muttered as he crawled into bed. “Maybe I could have saved them.”

“We would have been down to three,” Astrid responded, sadly, lying down next to him.

The four of them could only find the energy to lie down next to each other, doing what had become instinct over the course of decades during harrowing times: being near each other. Lying down next to each other may not have made everything better, because nothing would, but it would help. They were down by two, but there were still four. And they needed to stick together, because…

They had been a family for at least sixty years, however one defined that. Whether from the moment they first became Dragon Riders, or when they first started dating each other or when they married or even when their first child was born. They were a _family_. That was not going to change. They would not let it.

But two of their family were gone and it hurt more than anything they had ever experienced.

And so, while they cried themselves to sleep, they also fell asleep to the sound of each other crying.

 

 

 

On a normal day, waking up next to each other would have been lovely. They relished it. They always had. Astrid recalled those lovely days when she was pregnant with Balder and Ruffnut with Spike and Knut and they would sleep next to each other. Waking up next to Ruffnut had been wonderful and her heart had been joy.

And now as she looked at the sleeping faces she could see— Hiccup was not facing her, Snotlout and Fishlegs were, her heart was pain.

And as the other three awoke, they were reminded of what they had lost, and watching each other’s faces remember that fact was devastating.

They lay in bed, silent, not wanting to get out of bed, when a sharp knock on their bedroom door surprised them.

Fishlegs gave a sharp gasp, Snotlout flinched, Hiccup moved his head sharply, and Astrid jerked in place, looking towards the door.

“Mom? Dads? I’m coming in, okay?” Revna said.

The door opened with a creak and Revna walked towards their bed, and sitting down at the edge of it.

Gods, she could see how miserable they all looked. She sucked in a breath. She suddenly felt like a small child, like she had been many decades ago and when she was upset, these six people would comfort her and let her sleep in their beds or in their arms. Only now, she was much older, as were they, and they were down to four. She wanted to crawl into that bed with them and hold onto them. Their pain was also her pain.

But she tamped down on that urge.

“Hey,” she said gently. “I want you guys to come have breakfast with me and Spike, okay? The rest of the family’s gonna be here afterwards for the funeral.”

They nodded silently.

Revna got up for a moment and then sat back down.

“I… uh… want you to know that I love you, okay? I love you all so much. And Mom Nut and Dad Nut, too. You guys made this amazing life for me and my siblings. And I love that life you made. I am who I am because of it and because of you. And, I just love you,” Revna said. “I’ll see you at the breakfast table.”

Revna stood up and left the room, closing the door gently behind them.

She stood beside it and silently cried.

 

 

 

Revna was at the breakfast table already when they finally came to the table. She got up quickly and helped them to their seats. She kissed them on their cheeks. Her sister, Spike, did the same.

It was a quiet affair. And normally, any meal time with her family was loud to put it lightly. They were a big family. It had started with six, then seven, then eight, then eleven, and then fourteen, and it had been thirty (not counting her siblings’ spouses), but now… it was twenty-eight. Thirty had become twenty-eight and six had become four.

Her parents didn’t feel like talking, and she didn’t try to force this issue.

Her heart ached too much with loss. Especially when she remembered with a pang how she had had dinner with them just a few days ago and it was happy and loud and they were all alive and well and happy and whole.

And now they were not.

 

 

 

They stood side-by-side, holding hands, with their children and their children’s spouses, their grandchildren, and the family’s dragons all around them (Toothless, as always, forever, was right next to Hiccup), staring at Ruff and Tuff’s ship. Spike and Knut stood with Barf and Belch.

Surprising absolutely no one in their family, Ruff and Tuff had long requested that their funeral ship be lighted by Barf and Belch, or any available Zippleback, if Barf and Belch were unavailable. They, of course, granted that request.

The explosion of Zippleback gas made her parents flinch but not cry. Revna looked at them and saw that they had no tears on any of their faces. She knew in her heart that they were beyond tears.

And that there was nothing she could do to truly help them.

**Author's Note:**

> The sentence: “Revna sat down in front of her parents and destroyed their world.” is inspired/lifted/modified from Patton Oswalt: Annihilation that’s on Netflix where Patton Oswalt says: "I looked at my daughter and destroyed her world." When he talks about telling his daughter that her mother/his wife has passed away.
> 
> Astrid and Revna counting the children/niblings is inspired by the book A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer.


End file.
